'It has been an honor to serve as your nominee,' Harmer tells supporters

GOP Congressional candidate David Harmer and his wife Elayne with their children at a recent campaign rally at Barone's Restaurant in Pleasanton. Harmer conceded defeat last week in his bid to unseat Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) in the Nov. 2 General Election. Photo by Jeb Bing.

San Ramon attorney and Republican David Harmer has conceded defeat in his bid to unseat Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) as the 11th Congressional District representative.

Harmer talked to McNerney by telephone last Friday, offering his congratulations on McNerney's re-election to a third term in Congress.

With all the votes now counted, McNerney received 115,361 votes, or 48% of the total number of votes cast, against Harmer's 112,703 votes, or 46.9%. American Independent Party candidate David Christensen received 12,439 votes, or 5.1%.

In a statement to his supporters that was also sent to the Pleasanton Weekly, Harmer said:

"At 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 3, with 99% of precincts reporting, we led by 23 votes. Counting was stalled, so I went to bed. When I awoke two hours later, we trailed by 121 votes -- making ours, at that time, the closest of any race for the House or Senate anywhere in the nation.

"As the counting of absentee and provisional ballots continued, the gap gradually grew. But not until three weeks after the election, just before Thanksgiving, did the Associated Press call the race. It was the second-to-last House race in the nation to be called.

"And not until four weeks after the election -- this past Tuesday -- did we have a complete count of all ballots cast. The final results:

Jerry McNerney (Dem) 115,361 - 48%

David Harmer (Rep) 112,703 - 47%

David Christensen (AI) 12,439 - 5%

Total: 240, 5031 -100%

"The campaign team remains concerned about some aspects of the voting and counting processes. A future message will outline those concerns and offer recommendations for improvement. But the incumbent's margin is large enough to make a recount unlikely to change the result, and the precinct-level data do not display the sort of anomalies that would justify a challenge.

"Accordingly, I have called Congressman McNerney to congratulate him on winning the election and to wish him well in his continued service. He accepted the call graciously and we had a cordial conversation.

"Some people wonder why I waited so long; others will wonder why I threw in the towel. Perhaps a few explanations are in order.

"Commitment: Having invested nearly two years of full-time and uncompensated effort in this endeavor, I was ready for a verdict on November 2. I knew that the race would be close, but I intended and expected to win. I was prepared and eager to serve.

"On the other hand, had we clearly lost, my disappointment would have been tempered by relief at returning to the normal routines of private life. What I hadn't anticipated was neither of the above -- a month of uncertainty.

"When you've given your all without attaining success, is any temptation more seductive than to quit?

"I can report firsthand that the Harmer family had already had enough. But we recognized that the campaign wasn't ours alone; it belonged to everyone who had invested time, money, reputation, or heart in it. I was a spokesman for tens of thousands of volunteers, donors, and voters, the advocate of their views and values, and the trustee of their political hopes. They merited my best efforts to ensure that their voices were heard and their votes counted.

"Among those urging me to hang in there was my friend Mick Mulvaney, who defeated House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt in South Carolina. I will be watching," he wrote. "I won my first race for office by 212 votes after 3 recounts and 1 lawsuit, so I understand a little of what you are going through."

"Support: At New Member Orientation in Washington, D.C., I compared notes with others whose elections were undecided. While I was there, Joe Walsh's race in Illinois was called in his favor; a recount confirmed Renee Ellmers's win in North Carolina; Blake Farenthold maintained his lead in Texas; and Ann Marie Buerkle extended hers in New York. Other veterans of close races, like Steve Stivers of Ohio, encouraged me not to give up.

"Not only did the Republican freshmen offer moral support, many of them contributed generously to the recount fund. Key endorsers like Governor Mitt Romney did so as well. Meanwhile, back at home, we had more volunteers than we could deploy to monitor the counting.

"I offer my wholehearted thanks to each of them, and to everyone else who participated in this enterprise, both before and after Election Day: the campaign co-chairs, endorsers, event hosts, donors, volunteers, interns, and staff. I also thank the reporters who covered the race and told our story.

"Ours looked, felt, and behaved like a winning campaign. The enthusiasm and intensity were on our side. But we were heavily outspent in the final stretch, and the barrage of attack ads drove enough voters to the third party to prove decisive.

"In a future message I'll give a more detailed report of our performance. Meanwhile, please accept my appreciation for the confidence you've placed in me. It has been an honor to serve as your nominee." -- David Harmer

Comments

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Posted by Next Time
a resident of Pheasant Ridge
on Dec 6, 2010 at 3:38 pm

You came close David. But it is only a little ironic that this is published by the PW who not only endorsed your opponent, but activlly campained against you by pulling down any blog thread with neagtive comments about Pelosi's lap dog McNerney. The liberals who publish the PW will probably pull this down before you see it. But if you check back first...best of wishes to you and your family and good luck in your future endeavors.

In that forthcoming "more detailed report" that is being promised, I'd like to hear how Harmer got by receiving unemployment benefits for all those weeks without looking seriously for a job other than politician. Kind of smells like arriving at the welfare office in a Cadillac to me. But, no matter, his supporters were okay with him being an unemployed carpetbagger, and they got all that they deserved.

Posted by Arroyo
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Dec 6, 2010 at 10:24 pm

Jane, the man only lost by 2,500 votes -- not exactly a resounding endorsement of Mr. McNerney's illustrious career(?) in Washington. But, keep on spewing the bile. Maybe they'll redraw the district and then he won't be a carpetbagger, plus maybe he'll find a job. What next? I suppose you want him to change his religion?

Posted by Jane Hull
a resident of Livermore
on Dec 6, 2010 at 10:49 pm

I'm not so sure, Arroyo, that he wouldn't change his religion if he thought it could maybe get him elected. Former credit card debt collector, two-faced stimulus critic who took stimulus money, unemployed deadbeat who collected unemployment benefits while spouting Republican line about the 'virtue' of not extending benefits to those in need, proponent of denying affordable health care to impoverished parents and their children. Called out dems for being 'arrogant' in wanting to spend ("his") money on govt'l programs, while he had no qualms about using unemployment compensation to supplement the bail-out bonus money he received. Please! This isn't a problem of his religion. It's a problem of being two-faced and his followers willing to forgive him for it. Dream all you might for redistricting, which I'm beginning to think is nothing more than tea party code for wishful gated communities that lock the you-know-who people outside the gates.

Posted by mickey marcuse
a resident of Dublin
on Dec 7, 2010 at 12:08 am

Really can't agree with the assessment of why he lost. Harmer's never was a 'winning campaign' as he attests. There was only the illusion of being a 'winning campaign' after a right-wing pollster fudged some numbers early on, thereby creating the false narrative that Harmer was ahead (and which the so-called liberal media uncritically accepted, without so much as a peep of healthy skepticism). So, too, the mularky about being outspent. If outspending one's opponent is to be a criterion for winning, as Harmer seems to be claiming, then Meg Whitman should have won by 6 million votes. No, the enthusiasm of the people was clearly behind McNerney, from start to finish. I was at the forum when the two (three, if you want to include the goofball) candidates debated. McNerney's supporters outnumbered Harmer's supporters by two to one. The impassioned voices from the sea of blue-clad college kids and young workers and people of color drowned out the desperately dying squawks coming from the island of red oldsters.

I disagree with the Arroyos. Jan and mickey seem to be offering analysis, backed with passion, while the Arroyos offer no analysis at all. I'm also surprised no one has jumped to the defense of mormonism, giving its shining history of polygamy and treatment of children like sexual chattel until that darned intrusive regulatory state intervened. Or its current history of anti-gay zealotry, appealing to that darned intrusive regulatory state for protection against gay 'persecution' in the form of loving gay couples wanting to marry and be treated equally.

Posted by SteveP
a resident of Parkside
on Dec 8, 2010 at 8:55 amSteveP is a registered user.

No, dublinmike, we all lose because we're stuck with the same old crap that isn't working now. This state is a mess and it's not because of the folks running in the elections that want to make changes---it's the incumbent Dems who maintain the status quo and refuse to run the state within it's means.

Posted by dublinmike
a resident of Dublin
on Dec 9, 2010 at 10:36 pmdublinmike is a registered user.

Next Time, SteveP, et al, grow up. Your person lost. Stop whining.

Regarding "it's the incumbent Dems" is such a hypocrisy on your part. Self-serving is more like it

Face it, all sides are dirty. The difference is that I recognize it, and you don't. What have you said about the self-serving Republicans? Probably not much. I challenge all sides, including Representative Jerry McNerney, to work for us.